Thomas Dunn English, a physician of Newark, New Jersey, was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 29, 1819. Since early life Dr.
English has been a contributor to the periodicals of the day. His
popular ballad, “Ben Bolt,” appeared in 1842.
Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich, Connecticut, January 3, 1740. He
was in command of a volunteer company at the outbreak of the Revolution,
and marched at once to Cambridge. He served with great bravery on Lake
Champlain, in Canada, and at Stillwater. After his treason he received a
brigadier-general’s commission in the British army. At the close of the
war he went to England, where he resided most of the time until his
death, June 14, 1801. The second battle of Stillwater (sometimes called
Bemis’s Heights and sometimes Saratoga) was fought October 7, 1777. Of
Arnold’s part in this battle George William Curtis says, in his
Centennial Oration: “The British, dismayed, bewildered, overwhelmed,
were scarcely within their redoubts, when Benedict Arnold, to whom the
jealous Gates, who did not come upon the field during the day, had
refused a command, outriding an aide whom Gates had sent to recall him,
came spurring up: Benedict Arnold--whose name America does not
love,--whose ruthless will had dragged the doomed Canadian expedition
through the starving wilderness of Maine, who, volunteering to relieve
Fort Stanwix, had, by the mere terror of his coming, blown St. Leger
away, and who on the 19th of September had saved the American left.
Benedict Arnold, whom battle stung to fury, now whirled from end to end
of the American line, hurled it against the great redoubt, driving the
enemy at the point of the bayonet; then flinging himself to the extreme
right, and finding there the Massachusetts brigade, swept it with him to
the assault, and streaming over the breastworks, scattered the
Brunswickers who defended them, killed their colonel, gained and held
the point which commanded the entire British position, while at the same
moment his horse was shot under him, and he sank to the ground wounded
in the leg that had been wounded at Quebec. Here, upon the Hudson, where
he tried to betray his country; here, upon the spot where, in the
crucial hour of the Revolution, he illustrated and led the American
valor that made us free and great, knowing well that no earlier service
can condone for a later crime, let us recall for one brief instant of
infinite pity the name that has been justly execrated for a century.”
Horatio Gates, who commanded the American forces at the battle of
Stillwater, was an Englishman by birth, and had served under Braddock.
He was made adjutant-general at the opening of the Revolution, and
accompanied Washington to Cambridge when “the great Virginian” went
thither to take charge of the army. Just before the battle of Stillwater
Gates superseded General Schuyler in the command of the army of the
north. He suffered a disastrous defeat at Camden, when at the head of
the southern forces. His patriotism was undoubted, but he lacked the
judgment of a great commander.
Burgoyne (John, 1723-1792), who commanded the British forces at the
battle of Stillwater, had distinguished himself in Portugal, and had
also been a member of the British Parliament before coming to America.
Much was expected of his expedition. It was intended to cut the colonies
in twain, and thus crush the rebellion. Burgoyne was at one time
commander-in-chief in Ireland. During the closing years of his life he
devoted himself to literature.
=Stanza 5.= =Poor= (Enoch), a New Hampshire brigadier-general who served
with distinction in the Continental army until 1780, when he died at
Hackensack, New Jersey.
=Learned= (Ebenezer), a Massachusetts brigadier-general who had served in
the French and Indian War.
=Stanza 6.= =Cilley= (Joseph), a New Hampshire colonel who was later in the
commands of General Wayne and General Sullivan.
=Stanza 7.= =Major Ackland=, of the Grenadier corps, a most gallant British
officer, was shot through both legs in this battle. He recovered, but
after his return to England he was slain in a duel into which he was
drawn through his defence of the bravery of the Americans.
=Stanza 12.= =Armstrong= (John), a Pennsylvania major, at first attached to
the staff of General Hugh Mercer, and later to that of General Gates,
with whom he remained until the close of the war.
=Stanza 16.= =Brooks= (John), a Massachusetts colonel who afterward became
adjutant-general.
=Wesson= (James), a Massachusetts colonel who commanded a regiment in
Learned’s brigade.
=Livingston= (James), a New York colonel who commanded a regiment in
Learned’s brigade.
=Morgan= (Daniel), a native of New Jersey whose family removed to Virginia
while he was yet young. He served with much distinction throughout the
Revolution, and rose to the rank of major-general.